The bars or handles on a burial casket in addition to serving a decorative purpose, are utilized during a burial service by pall bearers to lift the casket and transport it to the desired location either during the pre-burial service or to the place of burial. In this regard, the casket, with the body of the deceased, may weigh several hundred pounds, so that the bars may prove necessary to assist the pall bearers in moving the casket. These bars normally are held by a series of arms or brackets connected to the sidewalls of the casket. Burial casket bars of this type are generally a straight tubular member which extends from near one end to near the other end of each side of the burial casket. The arms which constitute the hardware for the bar could either be stationery or swing bar hardware. Typical prior art swing bar hardware is disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,204,286 and 4,615,085.
As an example, stationery hardware for bars have assumed the form shown in FIGS. 1 and 2 in which lugs and corners, with anywhere from two to four sheet metal screws, attach each part to the casket. Normally anywhere from 24 to 48 screws are deployed per casket for such hardware. Slots in the lugs and corners serve to support the bar. In this prior arrangement, the corners, lugs and sheet metal screws support and bear the load.
Prior art hardware systems of the foregoing type have proven to be of questionable safety, utilize a large number of parts, labor intensive and require relatively expensive and costly tooling. In such system, hardware in the form of lugs and corners form a supporting function as well as provide the desired ornamental and aesthetic affects on the exterior of the casket.